Daughter Returned
by versificatrix
Summary: A girl screams into empty woods, far away from Tokyo. She has run from her home, and her past. But now, it seems, that she is going farther back than she ever intended....
1. Default Chapter

The forest echoed with the sound of screams. Normally this sort of thing would have sent the weak running for cover and the brave scurrying to go discover the source, whether it be damsel in distress or a foe to be defeated. These screams, however, no one would follow, had there been anyone around to hear them. They were screams of anger, frustration, pain, and loss. So the source of the screams continued to release her pain upon the world.  
  
The screams ceased, and the girl who had been emitting them was now crouched on the forest floor, among the shards of the tree she had just destroyed with her bare hands. The pinched expression on her face told the world how much she wanted to cry, but would not allow her tears to cool her red and bleeding hands. Instead she rose, turned and walked out of the rubble towards a camp that was set up a small distance away.  
  
Setting up a stove she began to prepare some food. Chopping the vegetables, she seemed to notice her wounded hands for the first time. Despite the thick calluses that laced her fingers and palms, they were scored badly and bleeding. Looking up, she saw a small bird with black feathers and a red breast perched on a rock, staring at her. She smiled at it and spoke aloud. "Wouldn't auntie be ashamed of me. I better go wash up." She rose and went towards the steam to try to pull the wood out of and wash the blood off of her hands.  
  
"I do feel awful, you know," she said to the bird, or to no one in particular. "Running out on auntie like that. I know I should have stayed, to help, but I just couldn't be there anymore. I couldn't stand all the tears and the empty comfort words, or..." She broke off and sat down on the ground. "I guess that is one thing I inherited from grandfather - running away." She looked dejectedly into the pine needles.   
  
"I think she understood, though. There was a bag of food left on the table. It was like she knew what I would do. She always seemed to know.... and then I ran so no one could find me, and she would have stopped them from coming after me, finding me..." she seemed to even slightly smile at that. "Well, she couldn't have stopped him, but he was the only person who I didn't need to worry about. If he couldn't find me in my own house, what hope would he have here? Yea, he would have wanted to find me, to protect..." Her expression turned dark again and she slammed a fist down on the ground as tears began to leak down her cheeks, unheeding of her efforts to stop them. "See? - see how weak I am? No wonder they died, I couldn't have protected myself anyway - I am just a weak child, and they died, and it was ALL MY FAULT!" The last words echoed back off of the surrounding mountains, as if affirming her harsh words. She brought her knees up and placed her head upon them, finally giving in to the flow of tears that threatened to drown her.   
  
All of a sudden she stopped crying and leapt to her feet, already in a defensive fighting position. In front of her, sitting on the rock where the bird had been, was a man, looking at her with a sad expression on his face.   
  
"Who are you and what do you want?" she demanded, all trace of tears gone, burned up by the angry aura she now emanated.   
  
"I heard your pain and came to help," he said quietly.   
  
"Help? Of course you want to help me, I need nothing but help, since I can't help myself, I have to have others do it for me." Her anger hadn't abated at all, and she still stood tensed and ready to strike.   
  
"What would you have done? How could you have helped your parents anyway?" he said, still with a quiet note in his voice.   
  
"What would you know of it?" She demanded "You just appear here, in the middle of nowhere, and ask me questions about my parents? Who are you, anyway?"   
  
The man remained silent. She finally grew frustrated and yelled, "Fine, you want to know what I would have liked to do? I would have liked to be able to stop him, to destroy that demon and make sure that my parents would have survived. He came after me, you know, and it took both of them giving up their lives to save me. They didn't have to die, but I couldn't stop it. I would prevent this from ever happening! I would get them back!"  
  
"If that is what you want, I can give it to you"  
  
For the first time, her anger wavered, as surprise drew her to lower her guard slightly. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I can help you see them again"  
  
Her shackles went up at this. In her life, she had learned that most offers could be two sided, especially coming from a certain businesswoman she knew.  
  
"By sending me to the spirit world? No thank you. I may want to see them, but I don't really consider that as an option" The "quite yet" part of that statement hung in the air as clearly as if it had been said aloud.  
  
"Not dead," he said "neither you nor them. They would be alive, and you would get your wish. If that is what you really want."  
  
"You are granting me a wish? Are you some kind of genie or something?"  
  
A small smirk appeared his face. "Or something. You have a wish. Do want it granted or not?"  
  
The girl thought for a moment. She knew that this could be her only chance for revenge, however fishy the scheme sounded. They would be alive, as would she. That part at least checked out. She knew if she went back home, she would be greeted with the same pity she had run out on. Her parent's friends would try and help, but she didn't want help. She wanted to be the one to take control.  
  
"All right. I want to see them again. What exactly are you going to do?"  
  
The man smiled again. "I am sending you home." She was about to protest when she felt a force pulling at her. The world began to swirl around her, and she felt herself falling, falling......  
  
Until she hit solid concrete. She wasn't hurt, but a yell from close by warned her that unless she moved, she might be. She leapt up and found herself in the path of a charging man. He didn't seem to see her, and was throwing a fist in her direction. She heard a voice from the sidelines yell, "watch out! There is someone else in there!" She looked to one side and saw a fist plummeting quickly towards her face and a leg coming towards her midsection. With a short leap upwards she landed on top of the incoming leg and caught the fist in her hand. Everyone involved froze and the two boys who she was balanced upon just stopped and stared at her for a moment, their eyes wide and jaws agape. Then they dropped their fists and the girl landed on her feet between them. The girl from the sidelines ran up and asked, "Are you ok? That baka didn't hurt you, did he?"  
  
At the word "baka" the girl finally focused on the faces around her. One of the boys wore green leggings and a yellow tunic with a bandana, the girl a blue school dress, and the last boy a red...Chinese...shirt. The girl's jaw dropped as she stared into a pair of wide eyes exactly as blue as her own. "Oh, my..." was all that would come out, before she sat down hard on the ground.  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Immediately the boy in the red shirt crouched down by her side. "Hey, we didn't hurt ya, did we? You just sorta appeared out of nowhere, and then you avoided my kick..." He frowned slightly at that and the girl finally found the words to speak.  
  
"No! No really, I'm fine. Neither of you even hit me...I was just surprised, that's all.." She began to stand, and the two boys both reached for her arms to help her up. She ignored the proffered hands and leapt easily to her feet.  
  
The girl bowed and said "Sorry for getting in your way, and thank you for... helping me. I guess.... I should be going."   
  
"Wait," said the boy with the bandana "are you lost or something?" He glared at the other boy as he snickered. "I mean, you just sort of appeared out of nowhere. Where did you come from?"   
  
The girl seemed to debate within herself, and then sighed resignedly. "I...I'm not really sure. One minute I was in the woods, then this man showed up, and the next I was here." I guess that's close enough to the truth - not like they would actually believe the truth....   
  
To her surprise, none of the three surrounding her seemed to be at all shocked by her story. The boy in the red shirt spoke up. "Ano...I suppose if you are lost we should probably try and find a way to get you back to wherever you came from." He looked at the girl on his left, and she nodded and said, "If you want to come to my house, we can go about seeing how we can get you home."  
  
The stranger looked back and forth between them, her eyes betraying her uncertainty. Then she said quietly "Thank you, I guess I don't really have anywhere to go... I'm Saoto...ri. Saotori Kimiko." She cursed herself for her almost slip, but none of the others seemed to notice. She looked to them, waiting for them to introduce themselves. She knew what their names were going to be, but dreading hearing them for herself. "Hibiki Ryoga" "Tendo Akane" and finally, "Saotome Ranma".  
  
As they started to walk away, Akane noticed the girl's hands. "What happened to you? You should get that looked at..."   
  
Her hands were scored with cuts, some deep enough to be oozing blood. "It's nothing, really..." Kimiko replied trying to free her hands from Akane's grasp.   
  
"There is a doctor right on the way home. He looks at all of Ranma's scrapes and such, I'm sure he would help you out." Kimiko's mind was racing too quickly to protest, so they continued walking.   
  
Ranma and Ryoga led the way, Ranma every once in a while catching Ryoga by the arm to turn him in the right direction. Akane walked next to Kimiko. By passing glances to the side, she looked more carefully at the girl who had appeared out of nowhere. She was shorter than Akane, but only by a few centimeters, and her hair was longer and braided down her back. It was very dark, but there was something different about it that she couldn't quite place. Her eyes were a soft dark blue; "the exact same shade as Ranma's" Akane blushed momentarily at thinking about Ranma's eyes.   
  
Shaking her head to dispel the thought, she turned up the path to the clinic. Kimiko followed, and they all entered the waiting room. Dr. Tofu came out to meet them. Akane felt Kimiko stiffen standing next to her as she bowed in greeting. "Hello, Doctor. This girl sort of appeared out of nowhere, and we were wondering if you would take a look at her."   
  
Dr. Tofu nodded, saying "I would be happy too, Akane. This way, Miss..."   
  
"Arigatou, Ono-sensei. " A flicker passed over Tofu's countenance, as he led his patient into the examining room. She sat on the examining table, her eyes fixed on the floor. Tofu stood up next to her, not speaking, so she was forced to raise her head to look at him. He cleared his throat. "Before we begin, I have to ask - who are you, exactly, and why did you call me Ono-sensei?"   
  
Kimiko stared at him for a moment, before her eyes filled with tears and she began to sob. Tofu stood and put an arm around her shoulders. After a moment she regained enough of a voice to speak. She almost smiled. "I should have known I couldn't hide from you...if I had been paying attention I would have realized and not come here..." She took a deep breath and straightened up and turned so that she looked straight into his eyes. "My name is Saotome Kimiko, heir to the Tendo-Saotome Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and daughter to the late Saotome Ranma and Akane."  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Tofu stared at her, his eyes wide. "The...the late Akane and Ranma...Saotome? And you are their..."   
  
"Their daughter, yes. Trust me, there is no one more surprised than me to see them...standing out there." Kimiko looked down at her feet. "I am sorry Ono....I mean Dr. Tofu, but I had to tell someone." Tofu shook his head. His soft laugh brought Kimiko's eyes up to stare at him. "No, I am sure you had a good reason to call me Ono-sensei. And I also understand your need to confide in someone. Seeing your...parents must have been difficult."   
  
Kimiko smiled. "I knew, almost immediately, who they were, but I wouldn't let myself believe it. Then it took all my self control not to throw myself at them." She laughed ruefully. "Although from the stress my mother told me, that wouldn't have been too odd for otus...Ranma." Her eyes filled with tears. "I can't even call him father. It's too...hard."  
  
Tofu sat down next to her. "How did this happen?" He asked.   
  
"I ran away from home after the funeral. I couldn't take it - all of my parent's friends there, grieving for the loss of 'two of the greatest martial artists the world has ever known'. That's what it said in the papers, anyway. I could feel all of their eyes on me - a combination of pity and..." she couldn't form the word, "disdain. That the daughter of these two powerful martial artists couldn't protect herself enough to prevent her parents from having to save her - and die in the process." Tofu started to protest but she cut him off. "I'm sure they didn't mean to, but they were right! What kind of fighter could I be? And now my parents are...were...will be...I don't even know! But they're dead, and I ran away." She hung her head. "I ran away from my friends, my family, and...him, and I went to the woods to train. I didn't know what else to do! Then, while I was there, this weird man showed up and asked me what I wanted. I told him..." she stopped, thinking, "I told him that I wanted to make it so it never happened - That I would go and kill the demon who killed them, and get them back. Then I found myself here."   
  
Tofu sat and stared at the girl. Now that he knew who she was, he could see so much of Akane and Ranma in her. Her blue eyes were Ranma's, and her hair was dark and thick like Akane's. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but he could almost see some red in it, too. And her heart - he could see Ranma's determination, and Akane's stubborn will. This was definitely their child. But what to do with her now? He cleared his throat.   
  
"I don't know who could have sent you here, but my best guess is that you're here to grant your wish." She looked up at him. "You wanted to prevent this from ever happening. So I guess they sent you back to the past so that you could attack whoever killed your parents in the future. Why they sent you to this time, I don't know." He started "I hate to ask, but...who killed Ran...your family." Her glare turned black with hatred.  
  
"Happosai."  
  
Tofu stared at her. "Happosai? But Ranma sends him into orbit on a regular basis. How could he have killed them?"  
  
She shook her head. "He had disappeared for a lot of years - from before I was born. He had attacked my parents before, and they were worried he was going to come back. They were particularly worried about me. I guess he had been some kind of pervert, or something. But when he came back, he wasn't alone. He brought with him this creature - a...demon I guess, with strength unlike anything I had ever seen, and it seemed like complete imperviousness to pain. He attacked Nerima, headed straight for our home, and okassan and otousan went to defeat it. All of the martial artists in Nerima went - Aunt Shampoo, Uncle Mousse, Auntie Ukyo, and Uncle...Ryoga. The kids went as well - none of our parents could deny that we were skilled enough to help. But we were warned that they would call on us - otherwise we were supposed to stay away. We didn't know it was Happosai, we had only seen the demon. Everyone figured it would be over pretty quickly. But as the demon attacked, it became pretty apparent that it was stronger than any of us had realized.   
  
"It could control it's ki, and shot blasts that completely stunned the target. The adults had their hands full, when suddenly I felt this presence behind me. I looked around, and nothing was there, but I could still feel it. I left the lot where the fight was and tried to follow where my senses were leading me. It lead me all the way back home, and into the backyard of the house. I knew it couldn't be from the demon - it wasn't the same ki, and at this distance it should have been getting weaker. Instead, it was stronger. Then, suddenly, something grabbed me. It was this tiny old man, and he was clinging to my chest. I yanked him off and threw him towards the wall, but he never hit. Instead he stopped dead in the air, and turned to face me. He was horrible - blackened and with red eyes. He told me he was tired of being denied what he wanted. If I wouldn't let him touch me he would go take Akane-chan, instead. I guess I looked at him oddly. I didn't know who he was, and to hear him say 'Akane-chan' I wasn't sure who he was talking about. My father was the only person who called her that.   
  
I guess the pause was enough to make him notice me. He said 'You're not Ranma-chan. You must be...' 'His daughter. And who are you?' I asked him. He laughed at me. Then he called me new flesh, and attacked again. But this time I deflected him with a hard punch to the head. He leapt back, and stared again. Then he was angry. He attacked me, but not trying to grab me. He was trying to kill me. He hit pressure points, immobilizing one of my arms. Luckily I knew how to disable it."   
  
"How did you know?" Tofu interrupted.  
  
Kimiko looked at him, puzzled. "Why, you taught me, of course...oh. I'm sorry, I forgot for a moment...."  
  
"It's ok - please, continue."  
  
Kimiko took a deep breath and tried to focus, to separate herself, to tell the story without remembering. "He kept driving at me. He was moving at speeds I hadn't seen anyone but otousan reach. He lashed out from every direction. I deflected most of his attacks, but some got through. Then he threw a ki attack at me. I wasn't expecting it, and it was at a pretty close range, so my arms were pretty badly singed. I countered with my own ki attack, but it didn't even slow him down. He got another pressure point, this time, taking out my legs. I threw another blast at him, trying to hold him off until I could undo the damage, but he just kept coming. I made it so I had some feeling back, enough to stand, but not much more control. He kept coming at me, punching and kicking, aimed at all my vulnerable spots, driving me farther back. I was up against the wall, and my legs had given out. He reached back to throw another attack, and I tried to form a shield to deflect it, but at the last second a kick threw him off and the blast missed me.   
  
"My mother was at my side, and father was facing off with the old man. The cry of my ki attack must have brought them. Okassan tried to help me with the pressure points, but she was never much good at it. She helped diminish the pain, and I could feel my legs again, but I couldn't move very well. She kissed me gently and went and stood with Father. I had never seen that look on his face before. It was a look of pure rage. They squared off against Happosai, and the battle began. They were wonderful - attacking with perfect symmetry, each knowing exactly what the other would do. But then Happosai pulled something they couldn't have anticipated. He turned on me again. He sent a huge ki bomb at me, one I knew I couldn't deflect, and that I couldn't move fast enough to escape. I closed my eyes for an impact, but it never came. Okaasan...she had..." Kimkio dissolved into sobs.   
  
"She... she leapt in front of the blast...Tried to deflect it, but it was too strong. It threw her to the ground, hard. I could feel the impact, and she ground into the dirt before crashing into the wall and sending the rest down around her. Father screamed her name and ran towards her, but Happosai attacked again. He wavered, and stared me in the eye. I'll never forget those eyes...they...they pleaded, and then hardened, and he leapt back towards the battle.   
  
"I pulled the rocks off of her. It was awful. Her arm was broken, and there were shards of the stone imbedded all over her body. I struggled to push her ki points, get the flow working properly again, but nothing seemed to help. Then I realized. The blast hadn't been normal ki. Happosai had used some of okaasan's ki to fuel the blast on impact. She opened her eyes and looked at me. She smiled, and squeezed my hand. I tried giving her some of my ki, but her body couldn't take it. She pushed my hands aside, and struggled to sit. I begged with her to not, but she wouldn't listen. Otousan wasn't in great shape either. He was depleted too, mostly from throwing every ki blast he knew at the creature. It looked like one of his arms was dislocated. But the moment okaasan sat up, he looked over at her. She looked at him, and after a moment, he nodded. She squeezed my hand, and stood, standing next to my father. She closed her eyes, and so did he. I could feel the ki draining away from her, and I tried to stop her, to pull her back, but there was a cocoon of ki surrounding me, and I couldn't get out. Happosai charged at them, and they...released their life bomb."  
  
Tofu started to ask, but realized his mouth was too dry to speak. He licked his lips and tried again. "What...what was that?"   
  
"They poured their very life spirit into a ki blast. It was...beautiful. Pure white light. It enveloped them, Happosai, in a perfect sphere. Then it exploded, straight up into the sky. I could see them, through the light, looking back at me. Then I was thrown to the ground, and blacked out.   
  
"When I woke up, I couldn't remember what had happened. Then I saw them. They were lying together, on the ground, wrapped in each other's arms. Happosai lay a few feet away from them, dead. I crawled over to them, and saw that they were dead. There were no scars on them; their ki was just gone. I tried again to pour my ki into them, but it didn't work. That's when the others arrived.   
  
"I don't really remember what happened after that. The next few days were a blur. There was the funeral, and the mourning. Everyone wanted to know what happened - I told the story over and over. There was a lot of crying, some cursing, and quite a few fists through walls. Then I just couldn't take it anymore. I woke up very early one morning, and went downstairs. There was a package of dried foods, provisions, on the table. I knew that was Aunt Kasumi's way of saying goodbye. And then I left."  
  
Tofu sat and stared at Kimiko. It was too much, seeing a future that hadn't even occurred to him. Then he had to ask. "Kimiko, you know me, from your world your time. I taught you. But..."  
  
"What are you to me?" Kimiko inserted. Tofu could almost see a wry smile pass over her face. So much like Ranma... "Well, I hate to spoil the surprise, but...well, Uncle Tofu, I suppose you should know the truth."   
  
Tofu waited. "Well?" Kio raised an eyebrow. 'Wait.... Uncle?' "I'm your..."  
  
"Hai, Uncle Tofu. You and Aunt Kasumi have been married for three years."   
  
Dr. Tofu's eyes glazed over. Kimiko interrupted his fantasies. "However," Tofu snapped to attention. "Just because you are married in my time doesn't mean that that is set. If I can come back and change the past, then I would suppose that the onus is still on you to make sure that future comes true." Tofu nodded, his glasses still slightly fogged. Kimiko smiled at him, and finally noticed her still bleeding hands. "Umm, doctor? Would you mind wrapping these before we go out? I think me coming out there still injured would raise some suspicion..." Tofu quickly grabbed some tweezers and removed the larger splinters before wrapping her hands in gauze.   
  
Akane and Ranma were still waiting in the outer room when Tofu emerged again. He looked around. "Where's Ryoga?" Ranma answered. "Oh, he left to find the bathroom about 15 minutes ago - I think he'll probably be back in a few days." They all laughed, and Kimiko tried her best to look confused, and to disguise her sigh of relief. One less thing I have to deal with.... Ranma and Akane waved to Dr. Tofu as they walked back towards their home, Kimiko following close behind.   
  
They arrived home, and followed the good smells into the dining room, where Kasumi was waiting. "Ranma-kun! Akane! Where have you been? I've been worried..." Akane blushed. "Sorry, oneechan, but we kind of ran into someone and got distracted..." Kimiko stepped forward. "Nice to meet you, Kasumi-san. My name is Saotori Kimiko." "Oh my! Welcome, Kimiko-san. Will you be joining us for dinner?" Kasumi looked at the girl before her, and saw a flash of pain pass over her face. "Hai, Kasumi-san, if that is all right with you..." "Please, sit down. Dinner will be ready in a moment." Akane followed Kasumi into the kitchen while Ranma and Kimiko settled themselves around the table.   
  
"Oneechan?" "Yes, Akane?" "Kimiko kind of appeared here. I don't think she has anywhere to go. Is it all right if she stays with us?" "Oh my. Well, I suppose so. We'll have to lay out the extra futon in the dojo, but as long as that is ok with her..." The phone rang and Kasumi went to answer it.   
  
"Moshi moshi."   
  
"Ka-ka-kasumi-san?"   
  
"Oh, hello Dr. Tofu! How can I help you?"   
  
"umm...Akane and Ranma brought a girl here to see me and ...ah...I was wondering if she was going to stay with you?"   
  
"Why yes, Akane just asked me. Is anything wrong?"   
  
"Wrong? Wrong, no I'm...oh, you mean with her. Umm, yes, she seems to have been transported here by some kind of creature, and in her world, she just lost her family, so she may be a little upset. I just was wondering if you would keep an eye on her..."   
  
"Certainly! Poor thing... should I ask her about it?"   
  
"NO! I mean, no, she, umm, is still a little upset, so perhaps you can just watch her, but keep conversation away from her past if things get too...personal."   
  
"All right, Dr. Tofu, thank you for the warning. Good night."   
  
"Good...good night, Kasumi-san.... Click"  
  
Kasumi shook her head as she hung up the phone. "Something odd is always happening around here...but if she just lost her family she will need someone to help her..." she thought to herself. Then she carried the last of the food out to the waiting table.  
  
Dinner was very surreal for Kimiko. Looking around the table at all the familiar faces, but completely out of context. Kasumi was the same, but seeing her without Tofu was very strange. Nabiki was almost never home, and Genma spent most of his time at home. Something about making up for lost time.... The worst was seeing her parents so young...and fighting so bitterly with one another. Her parents fought, a lot, but the bickering had a different edge to it...more teasing, maybe. But Akane just sat and fumed as Ranma fought with his father for a morsel of his dinner. Then Ranma won, and settled down again. She could see the tension leave Akane's shoulders, and she stole a glance to her... her fiancée. That's right - they aren't even married yet. I wonder if they've even admitted that they love each other. She knew stories of when her parents were younger, but they were collored by time and memory. This was not at all what she had expected.  
  
"Ranma! Why can't you eat like a normal human being?"  
  
"Well, if pops weren't trying to steal my food..."  
  
"Oh! So it's his fault you eat like a pig?"  
  
"If you're looking for pigs, I think there's someplace else you should look first..."  
"And what is that supposed to mean? RANMA NO BAKA!"  
  
The mallet appeared out of nowhere, as usual, and sent Ranma sailing out into the pond. Kimiko sat, her head down, staring into her rice. Kasumi noticed. "Kimiko-san, what's wrong? Is the food all right?"   
  
"Oh, the food is wonderful, Kasumi-san. I just was thinking about...home."   
  
"Tell us about your family, Kimiko. What were they like?" Akane chimed in.  
  
Kasumi spoke reproachfully "Now, Akane, you shouldn't press our guest into talking about anything she wouldn't want to..."   
  
"It...It's all right, Kasumi-san. I don't mind." Kimiko took a deep breath 'All right - here comes the edited version'   
  
"Umm...well, I'm an only child. My mother and father were martial artists - they taught me everything I know. For as long as I can remember, they would both spar with me every morning."   
  
"Ya mean your pops fought you? Even though you're a girl?" Kimiko looked over as Ranma sat at the table, drying her hair with a towel. Akane glared and was about to open her mouth for a retort when Kimiko interrupted.   
  
"I am heir to my family's school of martial arts. He had to train me. When I was young, he tried to get out of it, but I wouldn't hear of it. For three days, I followed him wherever he went, until he finally agreed to train me seriously." Kimiko smiled at the memory. When she followed her father into the bedroom one night, and interrupted him and her mother while they were kissing, he finally agreed. "So I've been training for most of my life. My parents were never easy on me, but they just wanted me to be the best I could. They always said, or least my mom did, and my dad with a little prodding, that I could give it up, and do something else if I wanted to. But I never did, so eventually they stopped asking. I guess that's about it..."   
  
"Aren't your parents going to be worried about you?" Akane asked.   
  
"No, they...died recently."   
  
"Oh! I'm so sorry...." Kimiko didn't respond, only nodded, and continued to look down at her hands. Kasumi stood up, suddenly, and began to clear dishes from the table. Kimiko followed with her own pile. Kasumi turned to face her when she walked into the kitchen.   
  
"Thank you for dinner, Kasumi-san."   
  
"You're welcome, Miko-chan."   
  
Kimiko almost dropped the plates she was carrying. "What...what did you call me?"   
  
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have addressed you like that."   
  
"No! No, it's fine. I was...surprised. My... aunt used to call me that. Please, don't stop. It's fine." Kasumi nodded to the girl, and took the dishes from her outstretched hands. She could see the pain in the child's eyes, and knew that she needed a friend.   
  
"Miko-chan, would you like to take a walk? It's a lovely night. I'm afraid the only place we can offer you to sleep is in the dojo, but I can have it all set up by the time you get back."   
  
"Thank you, Kasumi-san. I think I'll do that."   
  
"Please, just Kasumi."   
  
"Thank you, Kasumi."  
  
Ranma sat at the table, still toweling her hair. Akane turned towards her to say something, but froze, staring.   
"What?!" he asked.   
  
"Ranma you're..."   
  
"I'm what?"   
  
"You're a girl!"   
  
"Yea, so?"   
  
"Kimiko. She saw you change."   
  
"Yea, I guess."   
  
"But she didn't react. She didn't even say anything."   
  
Ranma's eyes went wide, and they both stared at each other, and then at the door Kimiko had just left through. Then they both got up and walked out of the house, following the direction Kimiko had taken.  
  
  
Kimiko wandered the streets of Nerima. It was all so familiar, but yet, so different. A house here, a wall there - just enough to throw her off balance. Suddenly she broke into a trot, and then a run. She ran until everything around her blurred into one mass of color and space - not enough detail to bother her. She ran until she realized where she had been running to - the one place she always went when she needed to escape. Fortunately, the empty lot that seemed like it had been empty forever actually had been, because it was empty even this many years before her time. She paced around it, noticing all the little things. There was a tree that she had always used to climb over the fence, that now only barely reached the top of it. A gap in the fence had not yet been made. In seeing all this, she began to remember all the times she had come here, to think, or just to run away for a while...  
  
She was scraped and bleeding, but she could hardly feel it, even when the salt of her tears fell in the wounds. Why wouldn't they just leave her alone? She had never done anything to them, and yet they tried to beat her up every day. Today she couldn't take it anymore and just fought back, even though oyaji had always told her never to fight someone who was weaker than herself. She had broken that rule, and the boy's nose was broken from the force of her punch. They had all left her alone after that, but she didn't want to go home. She was sure that oyaji would be mad at her - she hadn't meant to hurt him that bad! How was she to know he would put his face towards her punch instead of away from it? It just showed how stupid he was, anyway.   
  
She was sitting up in her tree when she felt the branch shake, and her father was sitting on it next to her. She wasn't surprised - she knew he could move like that, frustrating as it was to never know when he was coming. He took her chin in his hand and tilted her face up to the light. "That's a nasty bruise you got there." She pulled her face down, away from him. "You want to tell me what happened?" She didn't, but she could never refuse.   
  
"These boys have been trying to beat me up."  
  
"How come?"  
  
"Because they think they're better than me at martial arts."  
  
"And are they?"  
  
"No way! They've been taking Karate lessons for a year."  
  
"So why are they trying to beat you up?"  
  
"I saw them showing off on the field at lunchtime, and I told them they were doing one of the kicks wrong."  
  
"Why did you tell them?'  
  
"Because they were! Why shouldn't I?"  
  
"And they were embarrassed."  
  
"Yea. They started chasing me around after that, but I always just outran 'em"  
  
"What was different this time?"  
  
"They said that there was no way I could beat them, because I was a girl, and girls are weak"  
  
"So you hit them?"  
  
"No. Then they grabbed this little girl who was walking by and hit her in the arm. She cried, and they said 'See? Girls are all babies'"  
  
"And then you hit them?"  
  
"Yea."  
  
"And why are you out here?"  
  
"'Cause you told me that I should never fight cause I was angry, or fight somebody weaker than me."  
  
He wrapped his arms around her then, and held her tight. She started to cry, but tried to stop herself. He let her out a little, so he could look into her eyes.  
  
"You fought to protect somebody. You didn't react to their taunts; you reacted to the little girl. Once they hurt an innocent kid, you rushed in to protect her. The number one duty of a martial artist is to protect others. You did a good thing. And never, ever, let anyone tell you that you're weak just cause you're a girl. I used to think that too, and it took a lot of poundings, but eventually your mom taught me that girls can learn every bit as much as boys, and whatever strength you might not have" she heard him mumble something about muscles and gorillas, "You make up for in here" he tapped her forehead. "And in here" he tapped her chest. She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight. After a moment he let go. "Now, want to stop by Auntie Ukyo's on the way home for an okonomiyaki? Mom's cooking dinner tonight" The little girl giggled and nodded, and her father leapt out of the tree with her in his arms, racing across the rooftops as if they were the roads.  
  
Kimiko shook her head to pull herself out of the reverie. She smiled, remembering, but then the image of her fathers pale face swam back up in her mind, and she almost choked on the scream that tried to emerge. She could feel the pain and sadness well up inside her, cycling around and around as she saw her parents faces looking at her before the life bomb enveloped them, until her body couldn't hold it anymore.  
  
"SHI SHI HOKUDAN!!!!!!"  
  
The blast went up in a straight pillar and disappeared into the dark sky. She had hoped that the blast would give her some release, but it just left her feeling empty and wasted. She turned to go, and when she looked up towards the entrance to the lot, she stopped cold in her tracks. A figure stood there, with a backpack and a bandana. His face was obscured by the shadow of his bangs. "R..Rishiki?" She whispered, but then the figure stepped forward and looked at her. "Oh. Ryoga. What are you doing here?"   
  
"I saw the blast, and followed it here. What...where did you learn that?"   
  
Just then, Akane and Ranma came running around the corner.   
  
"Ryoga! We saw the blast and figured...." They stopped and stared at Kimiko, standing in the middle of the crater her blast had created.   
  
Oh, Shit were the only thoughts that came to mind.   



End file.
